Hitler’s dream of space colonization—his journey! It’s the sea of ??stars!

From China's "world's first aerospace person" Wan Hu to the real sense of the former Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alexeevich Gagarin entering extraterrestrial space for the first time Looking at the whole picture of the earth, human beings have never lacked the yearning for space and the desire to explore.

As mentioned in the previous article, in 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite in human history, which not only triggered the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union but also officially opened the human space age.

However, few people know that as early as the 1930s, the Nazi German head of state "Adolf Hitler" had formulated a detailed space colonization plan in an attempt to achieve Aryan domination of the world and the universe.

Circumventing the Treaty of Versailles by developing rockets

The Treaty of Versailles after World War I placed strict restrictions on German combat aircraft, tanks, artillery, machine guns and other military equipment. To circumvent these limitations, the German Army was eager to find a new super weapon system. At that time, Becker, director of the Research and Development Department of the German Army Artillery Bureau, was very optimistic about the development of rockets. There is also a group of rocket enthusiasts active in Germany, which also provides a basis for the army's choice.

In the autumn of 1929, Becker led the Research and Development Department to begin exploring the feasibility of jet propulsion rockets. The young Captain Dornberg was assigned to be responsible for specific research work. They temporarily borrowed a space at the Army's Kummersdorf Artillery Proving Ground near Berlin to conduct research. In 1932, Becker recruited scientists such as von Braun, Nebel, Claus-Riedel, and Walter Riedl from the German Interstellar Navigation Association. With the efforts of these people, the Germans quickly developed the first experimental rocket A-1 and its improved version A-2. In 1933, the A-2 rocket reached a flight altitude of 2,400 meters during the test.

At this time, due to the brutal racial persecution of Jews by Nazi Germany, more than 2,000 Jewish scientists and engineers left Germany and immigrated to the United States. This put Hitler's "Uranium Project" in trouble due to lack of talent. With G?ring's lobbying and the fact that Hitler had long been fascinated by the rocket technology of China's Northern Song Dynasty, the head of the Nazi empire decided to give top priority to the development of rockets. With Hitler's support, Nazi Germany spent 550 million marks on the development of large rockets from 1937 to 1940.

From rocket development to "space colonization"

In March 1939, Hitler met von Braun and other scientists for the first time. Hitler admired the broad-minded scientist in front of him, especially when he talked about ideas such as "space colonization", and the two hit it off.

As a result, a detailed space plan was officially launched: based on the development of bomb-carrying rockets, military spy satellites were developed. This was followed by the launch of a manned spacecraft, with the ultimate goal of establishing a permanent base on the moon to solve problems such as resources, energy and living space for the German nation. Hitler also hoped to use the moon as a transit station to send Germans to Mars and even farther into space. Hitler declared that this would be a "leap of faith" for the German nation. In order to support this plan, Hitler awarded von Braun the title of "Honorary Professor" and personally ordered the establishment of the Peenamünde base for space research. The base had state-of-the-art laboratories at the time. Germany's best scientists in physics, chemistry, aeronautics and other fields also gather here. In just one year, the Germans conducted 25 launches of launch vehicles, tested three guidance systems, and made significant progress, which provided an important basis for the design of the A-4 rocket.

In October 1942, the Germans launched an A4 rocket into space 100 kilometers away from the earth's surface. Soon, another flying rocket was successfully developed, which was later named the V-1 missile. The V-1 missile is the predecessor of modern cruise missiles. It weighs about 22 kilograms, has a missile length of about 8 meters, a flight altitude of 2,000 meters, and can carry an 850 kilogram warhead with an average range of 240 kilometers. Subsequently, the German army began to use movable launchers to launch V-2 missiles in places such as the Netherlands and Belgium to attack targets in London, Paris and other places.

Throughout World War II, the German Army launched 24,000 V-1 missiles and 3,200 V-2 missiles. Nearly 9,000 people in London and more than 6,000 people in Belgium died in missile attacks.

Although Nazi Germany had begun to be attacked by the Allied Forces at that time, there was still a space craze in Germany. Government departments organize young people from all over the country to learn space knowledge, and related space training camps are also emerging in endlessly. With the improvement of German rocket technology, Hitler hoped that Germany could launch satellites into the sky and deploy a satellite network to "catch all the countries on the earth". At the same time, open up a space base, exploit resources in the space base, and establish colonies. Of course, human reproduction must also be carried out to achieve racial purification and ultimately achieve Aryan domination of the world and the universe. Himmler went to great lengths to concoct an Atlantis myth, claiming that the Germans were the descendants of the best people. Himmler firmly believed that a super race came to the earth from space, settled in Atlantis and created an advanced civilization. Hitler believed this and hoped that the space program would eventually produce "German astronauts".

In February 1945, the Peenamünde base successfully launched a space capsule carrying scientist Raul Streisher into Earth orbit. After a short flight, the capsule landed in the Sea of ??Japan. Raul later said that after the war, he had been hiding in Eastern Europe for fear of being hunted for "knowing too much." It was not until 1961, when Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin entered space for the first time that he stood up and announced that he was the first human being to explore space. However, at that time he was unable to provide enough material to prove his statement.

The dream of space colonization was shattered

As the German army lost ground on the battlefield, Hitler's space dream was completely shattered. After Germany's defeat and surrender, most of the scientists who conducted research and development on Hitler's space program were recruited by the United States and the Soviet Union. Among them, von Braun went to the United States to continue the implementation of Hitler's space program. In 1969, he led the development of the giant Saturn rocket that sent the first manned spacecraft, Apollo 11, to the moon. There are also some German scientists who work for the Soviet aerospace industry.

Although Hitler's dream of space colonization was shattered, his vision for the space age played a vital role in Germany's emphasis on popularizing space knowledge education for young people. During the war, the research and development of various rocket technologies , although it was a tragic disaster for the people of the world, it also really promoted the process of world space history.

It is difficult to imagine what the world would be like today if Hitler's plan had succeeded, but we should also clearly understand that science and technology are always a double-edged sword, leading to destruction or destruction. Moving towards the future depends on mankind itself.